Board of Health

BOH MEETING MINUTES 1 0 -02-2023 Council Committee Room, 140 Main Street Board: Chair James Griffin, Vice-chair Joseph Tennyson, MD (absent), Member Richard Tomanek Also in attendance: Director Paul Dinwoodie and Clerk Tina Nolin The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. Reading and Approval of Minutes • The motion to approve the September 11, 2023 minutes was made by Member Tomanek, Chairman Griffin seconded, and the vote was 2-0 to approve. New Business Director’s Update • Migrant/Homeless Housing Director Dinwoodie reported to the Board the latest information on the migrant and homeless sheltering in the city via the State’s program. The situation is very fluid and changes day to day, sometimes hourly. To the best of our knowledge as informed by the state we know There are 3 locations at this time each with its own provider, who is there daily, Monday through Friday: - Best Western is housing migrants in 14 rooms, 15 are schoolkids – The provider is the National Guard - Holiday Inn is housing migrants in 72 rooms. The provider is the Eliot Group. - Extended Stay America is sheltering homeless families in 31 rooms. The provider is SMOC We have no further demographic information at any location at this time. Director Dinwoodie mentioned that the Mayor has put in a request to the State to consolidate the 2 migrant shelters down to one as initially stated. They did not promise that would happen. The board asked about vaccinations – were the kids being vaccinated before starting school, how many needed vaccines, who was vaccinating them, and how did that work? Director Dinwoodie explained that when the children register for school, they are signed up for that week’s vaccine clinic. The children's vaccine records were reviewed to determine what was needed. The public health nurse does all of the vaccinations. Currently, there are 8 vaccinations required for entering school: Dtap, Hep B, IPV, Menactra, MMR, Td, Tdap, and Varivax.  BOH Meeting Minutes, 10-2-2023 – Page 3 Director Dinwoodie reported that all children needing vaccines were being tracked and vaccinated. However, there is a federal waiver concerning getting them done before actually starting school. Chair Griffin asked if that had to be followed, or could they say no, they must be fully vaccinated before starting school? The Board also asked for this topic to be a single item on the next agenda, maybe for the next few months. Both Chair Griffin and Member Tomanek requested a spreadsheet be made that reports by date and location the following: - # of rooms used - Vaccine status of children - # of families - # of vaccines given at each clinic - # of school-age children The Board also requested that the public health nurse come to the next meeting to fill them in and answer some of their questions. Chair Griffin said he just wanted the public to know that these issues are being taken seriously and that their children are being kept safe. • West Nile and EEE The city continues to remain at low risk for both West Nile Virus and EEE, as reported on the State update and tracker information posted on Friday, 9/29/2023. • New Assistant Sanitarians Director Dinwoodie reported that the two new assistant sanitarians, Brandon J. Milton and Kingsley Ojeikere, had started and were busy getting up to speed with inspections. • Food Establishment Risk Assessment Director Dinwoodie reviewed the Department’s risk assessment of food establishments which helps determine how often they are inspected. The risk levels are based on the populations served as well as the menu offered. For example, retail stores, such as CVS or 7- 11 would be establishments that are a risk level 1, as they offer low-risk food products, and serve the overall general population. They are inspected once a year. Hospitals, nursing homes, and rehab centers with their health-compromised populations along with sushi restaurants with their higher-risk menu items are in the risk level 4 category and are inspected 4 times a year. Director Dinwoodie said he had reviewed the current establishments and recategorized some that had crept up the risk level ladder but belonged to a lower level; thus helping the department to make better use of its resources. • 2023 Flu Clinics The department will be offering six flu vaccine clinics this month. We will be at the COA on October 5th. Bouvier Pharmacy will join us and be offering vaccines for COVID-19 and RSV. The following week we will be at 240 Main St. senior housing and then 22 Broad St  BOH Meeting Minutes, 10-2-2023 – Page 3 housing. On October 17th we will be back at the Senior Center and on the 19th we will have a flu clinic at 397 Bolton St housing. The employee flu clinic will occur on October 24th. Subdivision, Site Plan & Special Permit Scheduling of the Next Meeting The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board was scheduled for Monday, November 6, 2023. ADJOURN Chair Griffin motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:20 p.m.; Member Tomanek seconded the motion; the vote was 2-0 in favor of adjourning. Respectfully submitted, 11-06-2023 James H. Griffin, Chair Dated